Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Isolation, Behavioral Identification, and Pathogenicity Assessment of Entomopathogenic Fungi from a Forest Wood Borer

Qu, Yifei ; Wu, Shengxin ; Zhang, Liqin ; Fan, Jianting and Cheng, Chihang LU (2023) In Journal of Visualized Experiments 2023(199).
Abstract

Forest wood borers (FWB) cause severe tree damage and economic losses worldwide. The release of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) during the FWB emergence period is considered an acceptable alternative to chemical control. However, EPF resources have been significantly less explored for FWBs, in contrast to agricultural insect pests. This paper presents a protocol for exploring EPF resources from FWBs using wild Monochamus alternatus populations as an example. In this protocol, the assignment of traps baited with M. alternatus attractants to different populations guaranteed the collection of adequate samples with natural infection symptoms, during the emergence periods of the beetle. Following finely dissecting integuments and placing them... (More)

Forest wood borers (FWB) cause severe tree damage and economic losses worldwide. The release of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) during the FWB emergence period is considered an acceptable alternative to chemical control. However, EPF resources have been significantly less explored for FWBs, in contrast to agricultural insect pests. This paper presents a protocol for exploring EPF resources from FWBs using wild Monochamus alternatus populations as an example. In this protocol, the assignment of traps baited with M. alternatus attractants to different populations guaranteed the collection of adequate samples with natural infection symptoms, during the emergence periods of the beetle. Following finely dissecting integuments and placing them onto a selective medium, fungal species were isolated from each part of beetle bodies and identified based on both molecular and morphological traits. Several fungal species were certified as parasitic EPFs via re-infection of healthy M. alternatus with spore suspensions. Their behavioral phenotypes on M. alternatus were observed using scanning electron microscopy and further compared with those on the Coleopteran model insect Tribolium castaneum. For EPFs that present consistent parasitism phenotypes on both beetle species, evaluation of their activities on T. castaneum provided valuable information on lethality for future study on M. alternatus. This protocol helped the discovery of EPF newly reported on M. alternatus populations in China, which could be applied as an efficient approach to explore more EPF resources from other FWBs.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Visualized Experiments
volume
2023
issue
199
article number
e65782
pages
20 pages
publisher
JoVE
external identifiers
  • pmid:37843258
  • scopus:85174306234
ISSN
1940-087X
DOI
10.3791/65782
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7955c3ab-921f-467b-9dd2-458e5ae149cd
date added to LUP
2023-12-15 14:14:23
date last changed
2024-04-14 06:01:55
@article{7955c3ab-921f-467b-9dd2-458e5ae149cd,
  abstract     = {{<p>Forest wood borers (FWB) cause severe tree damage and economic losses worldwide. The release of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) during the FWB emergence period is considered an acceptable alternative to chemical control. However, EPF resources have been significantly less explored for FWBs, in contrast to agricultural insect pests. This paper presents a protocol for exploring EPF resources from FWBs using wild Monochamus alternatus populations as an example. In this protocol, the assignment of traps baited with M. alternatus attractants to different populations guaranteed the collection of adequate samples with natural infection symptoms, during the emergence periods of the beetle. Following finely dissecting integuments and placing them onto a selective medium, fungal species were isolated from each part of beetle bodies and identified based on both molecular and morphological traits. Several fungal species were certified as parasitic EPFs via re-infection of healthy M. alternatus with spore suspensions. Their behavioral phenotypes on M. alternatus were observed using scanning electron microscopy and further compared with those on the Coleopteran model insect Tribolium castaneum. For EPFs that present consistent parasitism phenotypes on both beetle species, evaluation of their activities on T. castaneum provided valuable information on lethality for future study on M. alternatus. This protocol helped the discovery of EPF newly reported on M. alternatus populations in China, which could be applied as an efficient approach to explore more EPF resources from other FWBs.</p>}},
  author       = {{Qu, Yifei and Wu, Shengxin and Zhang, Liqin and Fan, Jianting and Cheng, Chihang}},
  issn         = {{1940-087X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{199}},
  publisher    = {{JoVE}},
  series       = {{Journal of Visualized Experiments}},
  title        = {{Isolation, Behavioral Identification, and Pathogenicity Assessment of Entomopathogenic Fungi from a Forest Wood Borer}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/65782}},
  doi          = {{10.3791/65782}},
  volume       = {{2023}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}